BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe 2020 review: snapshot

At $69,990, before on-road costs, the M235i xDrive lines up price-wise against Merc’s CLA 250 4Matic ($70,200), but knocks it for six in terms of performance. In fact, BMW wants a piece of the Merc-AMG CLA 35 ($85,500) with this mini-muscle coupe.

Aside from the standard active and passive safety tech the M235i xDrive’s features list includes: 19-inch alloy rims, a leather-trimmed sports steering wheel, M-Sport brakes (four-piston front calipers, up from single piston), M steering calibration, M rear spoiler, M Sport front seats, leather upholstery, electric front seat adjustment (including memory on the driver’s side), adaptive LED headlights (including ‘High-beam Assistant), and harman/kardon 16-speaker (464-watt) audio.

Also included are a head-up display, the ‘Live Cockpit Professional’ pack (10.25-inch instrument cluster, 10.25-inch operating system 7.0 media display and ‘Intelligent Personal Assistant’), Apple CarPlay (Android Auto is coming later in 2020), active cruise control, keyless entry and start, ambient interior lighting, LED headlights, tail-lights, and fog lights, plus ‘Parking Assistant’ (front and rear sensors, reversing camera, ‘Auto Parking Assistant’ and ‘Reversing Assistant’).

Explore the 2020 BMW 2 Series range

• BMW 2 Series 2020 review: Gran Coupe
• BMW 218i Gran Coupe 2020 review: snapshot
• BMW M235i xDrive Gran Coupe 2020 review: snapshot
• BMW M235i 2021 review: Gran Coupe
• BMW 218i Gran Coupe 2023 review

BMW’s packaging boffins will have sweated bullets to eke out every extra millimetre, but the hard fact is this 2 Series Gran Coupe is diminutive, and cozy is the best way to describe the interior.

The M235i Gran Coupe is powered by a version of BMW’s B48 in-line four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine, also used in various BMW and Mini models, including the Mini John Cooper Works GP.

An all-alloy design, it also uses a twin-scroll turbo set-up, direct-injection, ‘Valvetronic’ variable valve timing and ‘Double-VANOS variable cam timing to produce no less than 225kW from 5000-6250rpm, and a whopping 450Nm from 1750-4500rpm. It sends power to all four wheels through an eight-speed (conventional torque-converter) automatic transmission and a dedicated transfer gearbox, guided by multiple sensors and processors, to send drive to the wheels that can make best use of it.

Claimed fuel economy for the combined (ADR 81/02 - urban, extra-urban) cycle is 7.6L/100km, the M235i xDrive emitting 173g/km of CO2 in the process.